POLAND: The reform lifting the state rail fund to PLN 10bn a year will not take effect until 1 January 2028, deputy infrastructure minister Piotr Malepszak said. That is a year later than planned, and after the autumn 2027 parliamentary election.
He told Polish news media that the date is agreed with finance minister Andrzej Domański, who had earlier argued for April 2027. The bill is to reach the president for signature in February or March 2027. No government decision on the new timetable has been published.
In the meantime PKP PLK, the state infrastructure manager, gets about PLN 5bn (about EUR 1.2bn) more in the 2027 budget for investment and maintenance, he said. Both he and infrastructure minister Dariusz Klimczak had assured the sector in recent months that the reform itself was not at risk.
The letter to Tusk
The Chamber of Land Transport (IGTL), the Railway Business Forum (RBF) and the Association of Independent Rail Operators (ZNPK) answered with an open letter to prime minister Donald Tusk, dated 3 September and published the following day. They call for the finished bill to be passed without further delay and point to what they describe as a glaring inconsistency between the government’s declarations on rail and its legislative record.
“It is telling that this date falls after the parliamentary election,” the letter states.
The associations also use the letter to raise track access charges for freight and the admission of longer lorries. Adrian Furgalski, chairman of RBF, had set out the next step on the day of the announcement.
“I am talking to minister Klimczak. We are waiting for minister Domański to return from the G20 meeting in the United States, and RBF and IGTL are preparing joint steps depending on how the situation develops,” he said.
What the fund was meant to do
The Fundusz Kolejowy today gives PKP PLK about PLN 2bn (about EUR 460m) a year. The reform, modelled on the Krajowy Fundusz Drogowy for roads, was to raise that to PLN 10bn (about EUR 2.3bn) a year, so that the infrastructure manager could plan investment without waiting for EU programmes and avoid the peaks and troughs between them.
Piotr Malepszak also said the planned pool would be increased during work on the bill. He gave no figure.
The fund was to be the domestic base for the network programmes the government has set out this year, including the rail component of the Centralny Port Komunikacyjny (CPK) programme, where competitive dialogue with four consortia on the airport rail station and tunnel opened in July.